H. Dale Johnson

H. Dale Johnson was born on June 30, 1929 in Salina, Kansas to W. Carl and Mary Louise Johnson. His brother Don was born six years later. Until the eighth grade Dale went to a one-room school.

Growing up on a wheat farm, Dale was active in 4-H and participated in the International Farm Youth Exchange, living for a year on two different farms in Finland. Later he graduated from Kansas State University where he was President for a year for the Theta Xi Fraternity. He received a Masters Degree in Agricultural Economics from Cornell University where he was awarded a Fullbright Scholarship to study in Denmark.

1952, the year he spent in Denmark was also the first year of his marriage to Grace Mae Vaniman, also from Salina, Kansas. They greatly enjoyed their time in Denmark, which set the tone for the rest of their lives together, which would be marked by many travels throughout the world.

After the Fullbright, the Farm Equipment Division of the Ford Motor Company in Detroit, Michigan was the next stop for Dale. Grace gave birth to Lani Louise on December 19, 1954 in Michigan. By the time Lisa Anne was born on April 23, 1958, the family had moved west to Oregon where Dale worked for the First National Bank of Oregon in Portland.

Laura Kathleen, their last child was born on November 14, 1960 also in Portland. Dale did a stint at the First National Bank in Tillamook, Oregon and then moved back to Tigard in 1968. Dale remained with the bank as it became First Interstate Bank in the 80s. He retired from the bank in the mid 80s.

A family trip around Europe in a VW bus, the graduations of all three daughters from Pacific Lutheran University, a 25th anniversary cruise in the Greek islands, and a trip to visit Lisa and her husband John in West Africa were highlights of this time in their lives.

The family suffered a terrible loss in 1985. On the way to their beloved beach cabin in Twin Rocks a car accident took the lives of Lani Johnson Olson, Lisa Johnson Forsyth and her infant son, Colin.

While life was never the same again, Dale and Grace continued to travel. They spent two years living in Keflavik, Iceland as Grace taught at the NATO base there. They visited Egypt, Yugoslavia, Russia, China, Australia & New Zealand, Mexico, Central America, and Venezuela.

Laura and John Blaisdell produced two grandchildren—Drew in 1991 and Claire in 1994. They, along with Matthew and Peter, sons of John and Joanna Forsyth enriched the lives of their Grandparents tremendously. They built a house in Twin Rocks in 1996 and continued to enjoy time there.

Throughout the years Dale and Grace were faithful members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America. Attending for the longest period of time (forty years!) at Christ The King in Tigard, Oregon.

Grace died suddenly in 2005 in a car accident. Dale struggled with Dementia and lived the last two years of his life in an Adult Family Home in Vancouver, WA, near his daughter and son-in-law.